This invention relates generally to electrical switches, and more particularly to a toggle switch having a pivotally mounted actuator tip resiliently biased into longitudinal slidable contact along a generally rectangular conductive blade pivotable about fulcrum support means disposed centrally of the blade width, formed in a central common input terminal post. Switches of this type make or break contact between the blade and one of a pair of output terminal posts flanking the central post, at the moment when the actuator slides past the fulcrum support means.
The actuator in such switches must inherently have at least one stable position and may, depending on its configuration, have two or even three stable positions. A switch having two stable positions, each corresponding to contact by the blade with one of the output terminals, has a configuration of ON-NONE-ON, the word "NONE" signifying that the central position is unstable. Adding to such a switch of a central stable position would produce a configuration of ON-OFF-ON. A switch having only a single central stable position, and movable therefrom in either direction, is said to have a configuration of (ON)-OFF-(ON), the parentheses indicating contact which is momentary in the sense that such contact lasts only so long as the user applies digital force to the actuator. Desired permutations may be made by appropriate shaping of the blade and of the fulcrum support means. In prior toggle switches, each fulcrum support of the fulcrum support means includes a pair of spaced elements which contactingly support the blade at a pair of points at opposite edges of the blade.
In accordance with the present invention, the fulcrum support means, which may include one or two fulcrum supports, is disposed in a laterally central strip portion of the blade, and the actuator includes an actuator tip which is downwardly bifurcated to provide a pair of spaced toes for slidably contacting the upper surface of the blade along parallel longitudinal paths straddling the central strip. This arrangement substantially simplifies the design and economizes the construction of the fulcrum support means as compared with the prior toggle switches above mentioned.
Accordingly, a principal object of the invention is to provide and disclose a novel toggle switch. Additional objects are to disclose such a switch including a generally rectangular conductive blade pivotally supported by fulcrum support means disposed in a laterally central strip portion of the blade; to provide, in such a switch, a resiliently biased actuator having bifurcated toes for slidable movement longitudinally of the blade along a pair of paths straddling the fulcrum support means; and for other and additional purposes as will be understood from the following description of illustrative forms of the invention, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.